April 2025 – Debating Development Research

29/04/202529/04/2025

The EU Deforestation Regulation: Chances for Inclusive Sustainable Forest and Agricultural Commodity Chains?

By Marcelo Inacio da Cunha and George T. Mudimu

It is undisputable that addressing deforestation, biodiversity loss, and climate change requires a collectively effort globally. Although the private sector – as a key element of forest and agricultural value chains – is far from doing enough reduce its share in deforestation, it could serve as a paramount lever if pushed towards effectively halting the expansion of the agricultural frontier into forests.

22/04/2025

Feeling the Colonial: Affective Decolonisation in Development Studies Classrooms

By Carla Maria Friederike Diem / part of our “Share your Decolonising Story” project

“I hope for a world where International Development Studies cease to exist.” was the first line of my motivation letter to the University of Amsterdam (UvA). A provocation, yes – but also a belief. A way to signal that I saw the contradictions at the heart of the discipline – that a field born out of colonial legacies, and sustained by the hierarchies it claims to dismantle, cannot be reformed without eventually ceasing to exist. I thought this was an idealistic position. What I did not realise was just how intimately I would come to feel the weight of those contradictions – in my emotions, in my learning, and in my hope.

15/04/202517/04/2025

Global AND International Development against all Inequalities

By Alessandra Mezzadri

Development: Contested Categories

Since its inception after World War II, Development Studies has been deeply intertwined with the socio-economic transformation of formerly colonized countries. Initially, the discipline was tasked with addressing the question of how these newly independent nations could be integrated into the world system. This integration was closely linked to the process of modernization, a goal shared by many of these nascent governments. However, the object and subjects of development have always been contested.

08/04/2025

Is the Green Transition an Opportunity for Structural Industry Transformation in the Global South?

By Jiayi Wang and Ragdad Cani Miranti

Across the world, countries are facing a critical juncture in their structural transformation. In the Global South, the intensifying climate is leaving countries vulnerable to significant economic risks, including stagnation, middle-income traps, and premature de-industrialisation. Meanwhile, the Global North is showing a renewed interest in industrial policy, driven by geopolitical imperatives to secure supply chains, the urgency for climate adaptation and mitigation, and the need to reinvigorate domestic manufacturing sectors amid global competition

03/04/202503/04/2025

The New Washington Dissensus: Trump’s Five Principles for Development Cooperation

By Andy Sumner and Stephan Klingebiel

The Trump administration has set out to radically reshape U.S. foreign aid, pushing the “America First” agenda to ensure every dollar spent abroad serves American interests.

The latest indication comes in the form of a 36-question survey sent to international organizations and NGOs that are USAID recipients, effectively forcing them to justify their alignment with U.S. sovereignty, national security, and economic interests. This questionnaire is more than bureaucratic red tape—it is a litmus test for ideological compliance with Trumpism.